Part One: Peter Keating - Discussion
Part One Summary:
Howard Roark, a brilliant young architect, is expelled from his architecture school for refusing to follow the school’s outdated traditions. He goes to New York to work for Henry Cameron, a disgraced architect whom Roark admires. Roark’s schoolmate, Peter Keating, moves to New York and goes to work for the prestigious architectural firm Francon & Heyer, run by the famous Guy Francon. Roark and Cameron create beautiful work, but their projects rarely receive recognition, whereas Keating’s ability to flatter and please brings him almost instant success. In just a few years, he becomes a partner at the firm after he causes Francon’s previous partner to have a stroke. Henry Cameron retires, financially ruined, and Roark opens his own small office. His unwillingness to compromise his designs in order to satisfy clients eventually forces him to close down the office and take a job at a granite quarry in Connecticut.
Some questions I thought were interesting and through provoking. Feel free to answer them or start your own discussions:
1) What purpose does the encounter between Roark and the Dean serve? What concepts and beliefs does the Dean represent?
2) What similarities do Keating and Roark share? Why does Rand make them somewhat similar?
3) The Dean states that Roark has "a determined little group of defenders" among the faculty, while other professors "felt it their duty" to vote for his expulsion. Why do the faculty members on each side evaluate Roark and his work so differently?
4) At the end of Chapter One, Roark comprehends that there is a fundamental difference between his approach to life and the Dean's. Roark understands his own, but not that of the Dean and those like him. He recognizes that there is a principle that explains the difference, which he calls the "principle behind the Dean." Based on subsequent events of the story, explain the "principle behind the Dean."
5)Peter Keating graduates as valedictorian from the Stanton Institute of Technology. Does this mean that he is an outstanding architectural student? By what methods did he get such high grades? What does this say regarding his moral character?
6) Keating goes to work for Guy Francon, the most successful and prestigious architect in the country. What are the methods by which Francon has achieved commercial success? Does he have anything in common with Keating? In what ways do they both differ from Roark?
7) Roark gains employment with Henry Cameron. Cameron, though a genius, is a commercial failure. Why has society rejected his work? Why does Roark nevertheless revere him? What qualities do Roark and Cameron share in common? What is the fundamental difference between them and Francon and Keating?
8) Explain the meaning of Keating's methods. Why do they work at Francon's? Would Keating's methods work similarly well at Cameron's? Why?
9) Though Keating often leaves Catherine Halsey waiting weeks for him to call, the author makes it clear that Catherine is special to him. How does the author show Keating's love for Catherine? In contrast to Keating's motive for pursuing his other values (in work, for e.g.), what personal significance does his relationship with Catherine have? What fate will befall Peter if he betrays his love for her?
10) The design of the Cosmo-Slotnick Building establishes Keating's fame. What is the nature of Keating's relationship with Roark at this point in the story? Why does Keating both approach him for advice and help and take pleasure in making him perform menial tasks while an employee at Francon's? Why does Keating feel a need to degrade the man who is his meal ticket?
11) Cameron and Roark, though brilliant designers, get few commissions. At one point, Cameron urges Roark to surrender his principles and design conventionally. Given that Cameron himself neither did nor would do such a thing, what is the meaning of that scene? What does Ayn Rand stress about the price paid by great creative thinkers in a society that does not recognize the merit of their new ideas?
12) The character of Dominique Francon is introduced in this section. Dominique criticizes the work of her own father in her newspaper column and recognizes the fraudulent nature of Keating's work and character, though many admire him. What does Ayn Rand thereby show the reader about Dominique? Why is this important for the reader's ability to understand her coming relationship with Roark?
13) Despite extreme poverty, Roark refuses the lucrative commission for the Manhattan Bank Building rather than permit the adulteration of his design. When the Board asserts that he is "fanatical and selfless," Roark responds that his action was "the most selfish thing you've ever seen a man do." Given that Roark has just turned down a major commission in order to protect the integrity of his design, what is "selfish" about this? What is Ayn Rand's view of "selfishness" and "selflessness"?
And some of my own questions for you:
1) Why do you think Ayn Rand has chosen Architecture as the both boys career paths? Is there something symbolic in the trade itself?
2) I found it quite amazing that Rand writes one thing, but is also able to invoke completely opposite feelings in the reader. What is it exactly about her writing that has us loving Howard Roark and despising Peter Keating, although Peter is often described as likable and Roark as not?
3) Both Peter and Roark are driven by the same ambition - to be the best architects out there. How then, are they different? What are the values associated with each boys quest?
Happy Discussing!
HemingwayHeroine started this discussion 4 months ago. ( )